Art of making shoes



April 23, 1929. w. B. CAMPBELL ART OF MAKING SHOES Filed Oct. 19, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR. 2122M Mu QM A TTORNE Y.

April 23, 1929.

w. B. CAMPBELL 1,710,043

ART OF MAKING SHOES Filed 0011- 19, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Apr. 23, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATEN'I: OFFICE.

WENDELL B. CAMPBELL, OF CINCINNATI,

OHIO, ASSIGNOR' TO THE PERKINS-CAMP- BELL COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

ART OF MAKING SHOES.

My invention relates broadly to the art of making shoes, and particularly to the art of making fancy shoes which have elements such as the vamps, quarters, facings, foxings, heel covers and trimmings, which are composed in whole or in part of leather having different finishes or colors.

In the shoe manufacturing art there is a constant change in styles. This is particularly apparent in ladies shoes, although of recent years there has been a marked tendency of change in styles of shoes for girls, and men and boys also. The provision of shoes having style has become of such importance in the industry that not only have the wearing qualities of the leather been regarded of less importance, but there has been a tremendous waste in scrap leather. The entire art of making shoes has developed toward the almost complete sacrifice of quality and efiiciency in the making of shoes in the trend toward the production of shoes having startling-and unique color and finish combinations. I

It may be regarded as a well known fact that every hide, which by nature is designed as a protective coating for an animal, has portions which are better suited for use in some parts of a shoe than in other parts. It is my object to teach the art of utilizlng leather hides and substantial portions thereof in such a manner as to selectively adapt those parts of the leather for use in those parts of shoes for which they are best suited, irrespective of the finish applied thereto, which has not been possible without the scrapping of untold quantities of valuable leather in the past.

It is my object in this new art to disclose how the individual component parts of a shoe may be taken from that part-of the skin for which the Ieather is best adapted. It is further my object to greatly facilitate the dyeing and coloring of those parts of the shoes which require coloring.

It is my object also to greatly facilitate the embossing .of patterns on the portions of shoes which require embossed patterns. It is an object to decrease very materially the expense of special treatments such as scotch graining in those parts of shoes which require this type of leather. In addition to showing how comparatively great savings may be made, it is further my object to teach an art which will greatly widen the range of decorative effects which may be obtained.

It 1s also the object of my art to greatly facilitate the producing of various finishing nent parts for shoes of such a pattern may be eificiently cut from an unfinished hide or substantial part thereof.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a side of leather showing in shaded areas the portions of the side which can be utilized for the various shoe elements.

Figure 2 is a plan view showing how the side of leather shown in. Figure 1 could be cut-into shoe elements, such as would be required for assembling the shoe shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a ladys shoe of a pattern which has been selected for purposes of illustration. The side of leather illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 is a calf skin in which the area A shaded withdiagonal lines is the thick unwrinkled portion called the butt of the side. This portion is available for shoe .vamps. The nearer to the lower end of the side in which the Vamps are cut will ordinarily determine the quality of the shoe. in which the Vamps are to be used. The portion 3 of the side shaded with verticallines is the portion which can be used for shoe quarters and What is called the foxing. The remaining portion 0f the side is available for facing or saddle pieces and for tongues. The number of pairs of shoes which can be cut from the side de- I pends primarily on the number'of vamps which can be cut from it, as all the portions available for quarters and foxing, saddles and tongues could be cut from the portions available for Vamps.. I

.Referringtothe: sample shoe which we have illustrated in Figure 3: The shoe is a ladys shoe having a vamp .V of scotch grained leather with a flower medallion M embossed in the center of the tip. The quarter Q of the shoe is of black suede formed by processing the flesh side of the leather. The saddle or facing S as it is called in the trade is of plain green colored leather. The foxing F is of green colored leather having a reptilian design, as indicated, embossed on it. The tongues T are of plain black grained leather.

Figure 2 illustrates how a shoe cutter would proceed to cut up such a side of leather for manufacturing shoes according to the sample indicated. The pieces which are to make up component elements of the shoes are marked in sequence, VLl indicating the vamp portion for the left shoe of the first pair of shoes, VR2 indicating the vamp portion for the right shoe of the first pair. It will be noted that the side indicated provides ten Vamps marked in sequence up to VL1O and VR-10 so that five pairs of shoes may be made.

The hide has some cuts and markings such as salt stains and Wire fence scratches, which are indicated at C which it' will be noted the cutter cuts almost entirely into suede pieces and scrap of such size as to be utilizable.

The foxing parts are indicated at F, the foxing for the first pair of shoes consisting of the parts F L1, F-L2, FR1 and F-R-Q. Each pair ofshoes has a right shoe with a right and left foxing, and a left shoe with a right and left foxing, the right foxing for the right shoe being cut on the same pattern as the left.

The only scrap remaining from the side illustrated will be the neck portion which is of such comparative large size as to be available for many purposes, both in the shoe manufacturin industry and in other industries, and un er my process can be'used for linings for the same shoes, and properly finished therefor after cutting.

Basically all leather made from one particular class and of one particular tannage is the same, regardless of the finish finally applied. All hides must first go through a process to remove the hair, and then through some tanning process. My new art contemplates the usual de-hairing process and a tanning operation. If I use vegetable tanned hides, the hides should be brought to the fully tanned condition, known as the crust condition in the trade. The hides must be then set, shaved, stretched and 'dried. If chrome tanned hides are used, the hides should be given the usual pickling and chrome bath after de-hairing. At this stage in the present practice, .the hides are fat liquored, stretched anddried, and must then be given the finishing treatment required at once, or

else it will be impossible to preserve the proper receptive condition of thehides.

According to my process, a suitable treatment is given to the hides to permit of their being held, and subsequently given a finishing treatment. One Way of doing this with chrome leathers is to employ a mixture of 2% of lactic acid with the chrome liquor. The hides may also be conditioned after the chrome bath by soaking in an aqueous bath containing 15% salts, 5% Glaubers salt, 2% glucose and 2% of glycerine. Alum tanned hides are given a similar treatment, with the substitution of an alum bath and treatment instead of a chrome bath.

When the hides have been so treated as to permit of reconditioning, which is usually done by wetting the hides, they may be given the fat liquor treatment, stretched and dried, or they may be left in their tanned condition, without fat liquoring, and this increasing of fatty content given to the hides before or after they are cut up into shoe parts, or two fat liquor treatments can be given, one before shipment, and the other later.

If other tanning treatments are used the leather should be prepared in such condition that it may be subsequently finished, and as my art contemplates the finishing of individual component parts of shoes after they have been cut to shape and size for shoes into which they are to be used any tanning treatment which leaves the leather in such a condition that it cannot be subsequently finished, would require an immediate cutting into shoe parts following the normal fat liquoring, or else finishing with colors embossing, graining, and the like, could not be effectively applied in accordance with my process.

It is contemplated that as ordinary practice, the shoe manufacturer will receive his hides in such a condition that he can re-wet them or recondition them, so that they will properly receive the desired finish. The reason why care should be taken and departure from present methods of finishing hides followed, is that according to my invention I apply the finish to the pieces after they are cut from the hide, thus obtaining the correct finish for the correct type of leather with a minimum of waste, and the other numerous advantages to be pointed out.

I desire to cover in my process any mode of preparing leather which will permit of its being held sufficiently before finishing to permit of shipment, storage and cutting up into various types of shoe parts, and have recited but one method as applied to chrome and alum leathers, which is typical of the treatment which should be applied to other types of tanned leathers.

Of course in an instance in which the shoe manufacturer operates a tannery and could conceivably regulate his production in such a way that hides ready to be finished could be delivered to the cutting room of theshoe factory without delay, and could be cut up promptly, it would not be necessary in order to enjoy the advantages of my invention to prepare the hides for delivery in a condition which would permit reconditioning them for a finishing treatment. The impracticability 'of such a practice would indicate the normal necessity for preparing the hides for reconditioning at the tannery.

Also some methods of tanning may not result in leaving the hide in such a condition that it cannot be given a finishing treatment because of its having so set in its condition that further treatment is impossible, which would be the result of the regular practice of today. o

In any event, the hide in acondition which will permit of its being given whatever finish is desired, is cut up into shoe parts while in this condition. In my drawing and explanation thereof, I have fully indicated in a typical piece of leather, the factors which will control in the cutting. After the cutting, the individual pieces of leather are given the desired finishing, in which finishing a wide variety of treatments may be given.- as brushing with color, dipping into color, japanning and baking, embossing, sanding, graining, etc.

The art of making shoes which I have disclosed is primarily advantageous because it eliminates the finishing of much leather which will not be available for shoes even after it is finished. Then it brings the units down to such a size and shape that.they can be given the treatments such as sanding, coloring and embossing much more economically than was heretofore possible. It also avoids the difliculty in matching colors or embossed patterns in cutting shoeelements from finished sides. Finally it enables the cutting of shoes with a much wider range of possibilities of using the particular part of the hide in that part of the shoe for which it-is best adapted.

The embossing of the leather pieces, such as is required to emboss and grain the Vamps, and to emboss the reptile markmg, only re- .quires a small embossing and plating roller or plate sufiiciently large to handle a single element, instead of acumbersome, expensive and dangerous mechanism. The disposition of the markings in a certain portion of the shoe may further be accurately controlled. If, ashas been standard practice in the past, an entire hide were to be embossed with a flowered design as is shown on the shoe tip in Figure 3, it would be almost impossible to so .cut the v-amps that the right quality of leather would be available and at the same time the flowered design would occur in the center of the tip. In entire sides of leather which are embossed with reptilian designs, the cutting and matching of the pieces for each shoe is a task that is most arduous, and as a result, efiiciency in cutting is impossible.

In applying a color coating to small pieces of leather, such as are required for the elethin coatings very carefully applied.

There are a number of pigments and other processes which can only be used in one coating which I am also able to use, so that a very wide range of shades and intensities may be achieved.

Certain parts of patent leather shoes require very particular selection of the leather composing it, and my art contemplates the selection of the parts prior to the application of the patent leather finish. After cutting out the elements, I japan them and then bake them in a japanning oven, where being in such small units, accurate control of the heat is much more readily accomplished and better work can be done. I

In considering the advantages of selecting the leather for shoe elements prior to the finishing operation, it should be noted that I have taught an art which is economically of great importance. Although the market price of leather is constantly fluctuating, if we assume a certain price per pound at the tannery of unfinished leather, when a finishing treatment such as dyeing and coloring, embossing with a reptile pattern, or scotch graining has been accomplished, the cost of the leather has increased many times.

' For example, in the particular shoe which I have illustrated, the cost of the untreated leather would be only about one third of the cost if the various finishing treatments had been applied. This is because for coloring an entire or substantial portion of a hide from six to twelve coatings of thin pigment have to be applied as has been stated, and a strong pigment such as I employ for coloring with a single coat cannot be applied to an entire side of leather. If a side of leather is to be embossed with a reptile design, there is required a very expensive embossing die. If the hide is to be scotch grained, the expense (which I minimize because I treat only those parts which are to be scotch grained in the finished shoe) is wasted if the entire hide is scotch grained, because the only part of the leather which could be utilized would be the vamp portion, in my typical shoe.

Actual calculations which I have had veri-. fied again and again by different shoe manufacturers show that in the making of fancy shoes, often there is a cutting scrap of ashigh as sixty per cent. Leathers which are bought because certain types of shoes require certain llO types of elements therein accumulate until inventories of leather are carried which represent huge investments which are reflected in the high price of shoes. My art, which teaches the selective cutting of entire or substantial portions of hides into those parts of the shoes for which the particular parts cut are best adapted, not only provides a very material saving in more efficient cutting, but it avoids the expensive treatment of much leather which cannot be used after treatment. The economies of finishing the individual shoe elements in accordance with the requirements of the shoe make the possibilities of applying a wide variety of finishes much more economically than was heretofore possible. In dyeing and subsequently coloring an entire hide or a substantial part thereof even though six to twelve coats of weak pigment have been applied, when shoe elements are cut from the side subsequently, it is almost impossible to match the colors without great loss in scrap. In applying one coating of a strong color, all matching difiiculty is avoided, and there is a much wider range of colorv ing possibility than where weak colors are used.

In embossing entire hides or substantial parts thereof, the problem of arranging the embossed elements so that they will appear incertain positions on the shoes is also a source of great waste, and also results in the use of leather not suitable for a particular element because of its quality, which has a deleterious effect on the shoe.

In selectively cutting the elements for a shoe prior to the finishing of the leather, I am able to split the hide and prepare the outer side with one finish and the inner side with another finish, which again makes a material saving in the leather required.

In the claims which follow, I have used the term hide to imply either what are known in the trade as hides or skins. I have used the term finish in the sense of the treatment which in the past has been given to tanned hides prior to cutting into shoe parts. Under finishing, I include dyeing, color coating, applying. a patent leatherfinish, graining, embossing and any other treatments which have been applied to leather sides and substantial portions thereof prior to the cutting into shoe elements. As I have used the word finish, I differentiate from the assembly of the elements into shoes which in some localities is called the finishing of the shoes.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Those steps in the process of manufacturing shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to receive a surface fin sh, then cutting out from the hide dissimilar parts for shoe uppers, using those parts of thehide for the particular shoe parts for whichthe quality of the articular part of the hide out out is best a apted, then independently finishing each part with its de-.

sired finish after the parts are out before finally making the parts into the uppers of shoes.

2. Those steps in the process of manufacturing shoes which consist in tanning and reparing a hide to properly receive a leather ye, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers, using those partsofthe hide for the articular shoe parts for which the parts of the hide out out are best adapted, then independently dyeing each part a desired color after the parts are cut and surface finishing the dyed parts prior to their assembly into shoes.

3. Those steps in the process of manufacturing shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to properly receive a surface finish, including such steps as will rmit the hide to be reconditioned by wetting, subsequently wetting and reconditioning the hide, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the parts cut-out from the hide are best adapted, then independently surface finishing each part with its desired finish after the parts are cut before finally making the parts into shoe uppers.

4. Those steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to properly receive a surface finish, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers, using those parts of the hide for the articular shoe parts for which the quality of the articular part of the hide out out is best a apted, then independently fat liquoring and finishing each part with its desired finish prior to the assembly of the parts in a shoe.

5. Those steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to receive a color coating, then cutting from the hide parts for shoeuppers using those parts of the hide ular shoe parts for which the parts of the hide out out are best adapted, and then independently surface coating each part with a single application of color prior to the assembly of the parts in a shoe.

6. Those steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tannin and preparing a hide to receive a surface finish, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers using those parts of t e hide for the particular shoe parts for which the parts out out are best adapted, and then coloring and independently scotch raining those arts which are to have a scotc grain in the prior to the assembly of the shoe.

for the particished shoe 7. Those steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to receive a surface finish, then splitting the hide, then cutting out from one split portion parts for shoe uppers using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the parts of the hide cut out are best adapted, then cutting out from the other split portion other parts for shoes, then independently finishing each part 10 with its desired finishprior to the assembly of the parts in a shoe.

WENDELL CAMPBELL. 

